


Stargazing

by Sunshining5



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Pidge | Katie Holt centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-09
Updated: 2018-11-09
Packaged: 2019-08-21 02:23:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16567787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sunshining5/pseuds/Sunshining5
Summary: Katie is seven years old when she first sees the stars.





	Stargazing

Katie is seven years old when she first sees the stars. Sure, she had seen the sky before, but when her brother sneaks her outside at 9:30, barefoot and chilled to the core, Katie looks up and really sees the universe. 

“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Matt says, hopping from foot to foot due to the cold, slightly killing the mood. 

He had told Katie earlier to stay up after bed time, and Katie had no problem with that. She hardly complied with her parents’ bedtime restrictions in the first place. Taking orders wasn’t her thing.

When Matt said he had something important to show her, she hadn’t ever expected this. It’s too much for her young brain to handle. 

All Katie could really say is, “Woah.”

They stood in the moonlight for what seems like hours afterward.

...

_Matt always seems to be a little livelier when he could see the stars. He was just living off the Milky Way, dancing with the planets, reaching towards the stars._

...

It’s just after her last day of fifth grade. Katie can hardly breathe, she’s so thankful. Logically, Katie should like school. She’s more than smart enough and loves to learn. However, some of her classmates make all that… difficult to appreciate. But it doesn’t matter what her fifth grade class thinks of her because she’s free. Katie’s the queen now - she’s free to do whatever she wants. 

So, she decrees her first executive action will be to set up the telescope in the yard and wait for Matt to get home. 

She’s been stargazing with him more and more since Matt was elected for the Kerberos mission. Katie would never tell him, but she’ll really miss him. The thought of not having her brother with her during her first years of middle school is enough to send her over the edge. 

And the Kerberos mission is dangerous. It’s so dangerous. She fully trusts the pilot of the mission, Takashi Shirogane, and the rest of her family trusts him too. But there are some things that Shiro just can’t control. Katie’s head is spinning thinking about how many things can go wr-

“Pidge, how was school today? Great as always?” Matt teases, coming inside the house, pulling her out of her spiral.

“Ha ha, you’re hilarious,” Katie says mockingly, “And I told you to stop calling me Pidge.”

“Sorry, Pidge. I’ll try harder next time.” Matt says, rolling his eyes.

Katie huffs. She can’t believe he’s kept calling her by that nickname. She’s growing up, going to middle school; she can’t be called Pidge anymore.

“By the way,” Matt smiles, “I saw the telescope outside. I know your happy about school ending, but we have to till it gets dark out, Y’know that right?”

“Yeah, loser. I know,” Katie grumbles. And she waits. It’s always worth it.

...

_“A toast,” Matt says, once they can see the stars, “to a terrible school year ending. Maybe the next one will be better.”_

__

__

_“Yeah,” Katie breathes, “Maybe.”_

...

 

Pidge has seen the stars from afar. Occasionally, she’ll use the family telescope, but being in a ship - no a lion - has given her the chance to stargaze like never before. 

She wonders if this is what it felt like for Matt when he first went up to space. Granted, he isn’t in a giant lion, or on the run from the Galaxy Garrison but he must of felt what she’s feeling. Katie is awestruck. Space, how ever scary it might seem, is amazing. 

Pidge knows the rest of the passengers feel the same way. Nobody, not even Lance, has spoken in a while. None of them want to break the collective wonder that has fallen inside the blue lion. 

And now they’re past Kerberos. Three pilots-in-training, one dropout, and a man who has been declared missing for a year are past anything that has ever been explored by humans before. Matt would be so jealous.

Matt. His name reminds Pidge why she’s here, or why she was at the Galaxy Garrison, or why she cut her hair, or why she is Pidge now. He must still be out there with Dad, if Shiro’s alive they can be too. Hope centers around her. She needs to find them fast.

She’s not here to look at stars. She’s not here to make friends.

She’s here to find her family.

And nothing will stop her.

...

_She wakes up in a cold sweat. Something is wrong, Katie can feel it. Katie walks out of her room, but freezes when she gets to the top of the stairs and hears her mom crying._

__

__

_Her mom doesn’t cry often. And since Katie is naturally curious, it doesn’t really take any effort to find out what happened._

_She knows what it could be about; Katie’s has been worrying about it since they’ve been gone. But everyone has reassured her: Everything Will Be Fine._

_But after Katie sees the blinding TV screen, hears her mom’s sobbing, when the words pilot error can’t escape her thoughts, she decided that nothing will ever be fine again._

...

Today is officially declared the worst day of Pidge’s short life. 

It’s a normal day. No battles have been fought, no wars have been won. 

Today is her brother’s birthday, and Pidge isn’t feeling a celebratory mood.

“Wow, Pidge, you’re a grump today,” Lance says at breakfast, “What’s got our Pigeon’s brilliant mind in a twist, hmm?”

“I’m just tired, Lance. Leave me alone,” she says, slouching in her seat.

“Nope! I’ve seen Tired Pidge, this isn’t it. You’re grumpier than usual. Right now, you’re Tired Pidge times ten.” 

“Lance…” she warns.

“So what is it? A computer problem you can’t figure out? Lost something in your room again? Can’t reach that shelf in your hanger?”

“I-“ she stands up and begins to talk, then cuts herself off. It usually takes a lot more for Lance to annoy her, but she has run out of patience already. 

Pidge feels helpless. Today is her missing brother’s birthday, and she’s here arguing about whatever when he could be dying. She feels helpless enough to cry.

And to her mortification, she starts to.

Fat tears roll down her face. She’s standing in the dining hall, and all her teammates -except for Shiro, who hasn’t come in today- are watching her cry.

Lance, stuttering, broke the awkward silence, “Pidge? I’m sorry, Pidge. I really didn’t mean it. I didn’t know-“

“It’s fine, Lance.” She wipes at her face. “I’m finished eating.” 

She wants to leave. Leave Voltron and find her family, but she knows she can’t. So instead, Pidge walks out of there and finds the biggest window in the castle ship for watching the stars.

...

_Shiro comes and finds Pidge a while after breakfast. She still there, by the window._

__

__

_“You miss him too, huh?” Pidge says after the many beats of silence._

_“Yeah,” He whispers, “Of course”_

_She thinks about her brother. How adults called her a smaller version of Matt in her childhood. How much she looks like him now. She wonders if Shiro ever looks at her and sees Matt. Pidge wants to ask, curiosity making her tremble, but instead she just sits beside him. They still have each other._

_Matt wouldn’t want it any other way._

_They hold one another and stargaze, hoping to see the planet he’s on._

...

It is exactly 3:42 in the morning and Pidge has cracked the code. 

She was supposed to be in bed hours ago, but she hardly complied with Shiro’s bedtime restrictions anyway. 

She knew her brother was alive, and this security camera footage would make everyone else see it too. 

Watching all the Galra’s footage had worked her to the bone. Pidge can’t remember when she last slept a full eight hours.

She saw his face, pixelated and blurry, in one of the Galra’s prisoner ships. He looked worse for wear, battered and bruised. But Matt had survived the torture, and Pidge had never been prouder. And there on the side of the wall is the number of the prison ship.

Her mind still reeling from her discovery, Pidge wakes up the rest of the team.

They’re going to save her brother.

...

Shiro, originally angry with Pidge for staying up late again, had immediately stopped auguring with her when he realized what she’d found. The team jumped into their lions in record time.

The team decided that with only drones being on the ship, this would be a fairly easy mission. Therefore, only Pidge and Shiro were elected to go. They were working their way to the middle, and if all went well they could slip out with Matt without the Galra noticing. After Matt had gotten back to the castle and hopefully into a healing pod, Voltron would rescue the rest of the prisoners.

They were so close. Matt was here, in the same ship she was. She had known that he was alive. She had know it in her heart all this time.

Pidge and Shiro rounded the corner and arrived at the cells. The drones would circle round every five minutes. They had limited time. 

After looking in cells for about three minutes, Pidge and Shiro were getting desperate. All they did was promise the other prisoners a jail break later. All were questioned about Matt, but so far nobody had any answers.

The next cell is a dead end, and has a small yellow alien inside. Pidge promises release, then asks about her brother. She expects nothing, but this alien surprises her. 

“I know Matt Holt!” The alien screeches, “The soldiers took him!”

“He was taken?” Pidge questions, looking alarmed.

Before the alien can answer Shiro quiets both of them. 

“Shh. Listen to the footsteps,” He murmurs.

At first, Pidge can’t find anything out of place. But then it dawns on her. The footsteps aren’t the sound of the Galra robot’s measures steps. They’re out of pattern, not machine like, and definitely emitting from a multiple living beings. 

They’re also just coming from around the corner.

Shiro and Pidge can do nothing but freeze. 

...

The Galra soldiers are gigantic. Shiro is not even up to the smallest one’s shoulders. They’re of one of the highest ranks. They look blood thirsty; they look like they can handle their weapons- some monstrous swords- with ease. The soldiers could very well kill them.

But Pidge doesn’t notice. Pidge doesn’t notice because Matthew Holt, her best friend and brother, is right in front of her, being held captive, a sword to his throat.

He is a mess. He has a still relatively fresh scar on his face, and his hair is long and greasy. Matt looks malnourished, and had a dead look on his face. 

That is until he saw Pidge.

“Katie, Katie!” He shouts like an animal. “Am I dreaming? Are you guys even real?”

She barely even remembered her name before Voltron. “Katie,” she thinks she likes the ring to it. 

Before she can answer him, the Galra holding Matt intervenes.

“See boys, what I’d tell you? The boss was right: Voltron would come running if we showed off this human’s pretty little face.”

So it was a set up! Pidge thinks. But she is unperturbed. The Galra don’t realize what Voltron is like when family is on the line. 

Knowing this, Pidge lines up her bayard and fires.

It hits the soldier next to the one holding Matt. Shiro rushes in, lighting up his purple arm and attacking the opposing side. Pidge runs for the Galra holding Matt. She jumps up to stab him, but he is too quick. She tries again but fails. How is it possible that someone so big can move so fast? The solider throws Matt against the wall. Where he sides down, dazed. Pidge lets out a noise of outrage. The Galra smirks as he dodges again. He knows his strength, but he doesn’t know hers.

Pidge charges in with new determination. She’s fluid, she’s graceful, and she’s going to get her brother. She dodges his sword’s strikes; attempts to jab at him herself. Finally, she drives her bayard into the soldier’s chest.

It’s deep enough to be fatal.

The Galra looks down shocked. How could this little girl defeat him? He takes one last breath and crumples to the floor.

“Matt!”

“Katie!”

...

_The day is won, and the Holt siblings are going to celebrate. Their party is a quiet one; the party’s activities being dead silent. First party game: stargazing.  
Pidge or Katie (it doesn’t matter to her anymore) can’t decide if she looks at the stars or Matt more. She finds herself not caring either way, because their are enough stars in her brother’s eyes to fill the whole galaxy._

...

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! This is my first fanfic, so I totally appreciate bits of writing advice.


End file.
